


Hours In Between

by secretlyanangel



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash, im just tagging people who talk lol, they all have one line its all about poe here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-18 11:14:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5926387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretlyanangel/pseuds/secretlyanangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poe wakes up alone on Jakku. </p><p>*  *  *  *  *  </p><p>“Good choice, Dameron.” Poe muttered irritably. “Take off the jacket, don’t worry about getting slashed up by fighter glass or freezing cold desert nights. There’s no way you’ll lose it. No way you’ll crash a ship you’ve never flown when a whole kriffing star destroyer is focused on shooting you down.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hours In Between

**Author's Note:**

> The crash is so full of inconsistencies and stupid plot driven nonsense (why take off the jacket poe why do this) and I am full of hate and rage about that. Also I am garbage and will probably never finish anything ever again, so here you go.

Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Considering the TIE fighter hadn’t landed so much as broken apart and plummeted uncontrollably and Poe hadn’t walked away so much as crashed through the front of the damn thing and knocked himself out, Poe thought he could probably get away with not making a note of exactly how not good the landing was. Pava gave him enough shit about being the best pilot in the resistance- and god Poe spent enough time regretting ever letting her hear him say that- and there was no chance she’d let him live down a crash that bad. 

Poe groaned and pushed himself up from the sand. Nothing seemed broken, and he was definitely alive if the pounding in his head was any indication. Covered in blood and freezing cold, but yeah, still alive. He rocked back onto his knees and ran a hand through his hair, wincing when he found a sore spot. _Note to self: Headfirst is a terrible kriffing way to exit a plane._ Poe worked his way back to his feet, brushing shards of glass off of his clothes and managing to push back the rush of dizziness. He looked up at the moon and shivered as a cool breeze went by, regretting taking his jacket off in the TIE. Jakku matched the heat of its days with bitterly cold nights, and he had been unconscious for longer than he would have hoped.

“Good choice, Dameron.” Poe muttered irritably. “Take off the jacket, don’t worry about getting slashed up by fighter glass or freezing cold desert nights. There’s no way you’ll lose it. No way you’ll crash a ship you’ve never flown when a whole kriffing star destroyer is focused on shooting you down.”

Glancing around for the downed ship, Poe felt a shock of despair run through him. He shouldn’t have been thrown that far from the TIE fighter, and it should be an easy enough landmark to spot considering the whole planet was essentially empty desert. And yet, looking around, there wasn’t even smoke on the horizon. _So, no jacket, no fighter, no BB-8, and no map. I’m apparently nowhere near the crash site, and who knows how far from any settlement._ He grimaced; Still, not the worst situation he’d gotten himself out of. Poe glanced up at the moon again. His briefing on Jakku had been more than extensive for this exact reason. With the map at stake, General Organa had made sure Poe knew more about this empty rock than anyone ever needed too. He was fairly sure he could use the stars and navigate back to Tuanul. It would be hell, but he should be able to make it. He had punched in coords for the village before they crashed, so he had at least been crashing in the right direction. Poe sighed and started walking. 

It wasn’t five minutes into empty desert before Poe froze, a lance of concern piercing his heart. The stormtrooper. He should have ejected before the crash, but even if he survived the crash, he had a worse chance of making it off Jakku than Poe did. The resistance would be looking for him- General Organa would have expected Poe to be on his way back, and he knew he had missed at least two call-ins. With the map at stake, there was probably a squadron already on the way. The stormtrooper- _Finn, I named him Finn_ \- didn’t have anyone looking for him. The First Order spent lives carelessly. Poe couldn’t imagine they would spend so much time and effort hunting down a traitor. Finn wouldn’t last long out here if he didn’t find a settlement, and the thought alone sent a violent shudder down Poe’s spine. He barely knew the man, but he owed his escape to Finn. His life and remaining sanity too, if any extra time spent with Kylo Ren had been in his future. A deep pit of wrongness had settled in his stomach at the thought of leaving him out here.

Poe forced the feeling down and sighed. It would be no use trying to find Finn out here. BB-8 at least had nav programs, and they had sat through all the same debrief meetings Poe had. The droid should be able to find their way to a settlement and keep themselves safe. Right now Poe just needed to get somewhere inhabited. He wouldn’t find anyone wandering across the desert. There should be enough in the wreckage of Tuanul to send out a strong enough call to get off planet. If he could just get back to base, General Organa could organize a recovery mission for BB-8. If Poe planned on bringing up a certain defected stormtrooper, well, he did owe the guy a rescue. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The journey back to base had been unpleasant, at best. There was that whole incident with Naka lit and the speeder- his headache hadn’t improved at all with that little stunt- and the scuffle over controls had made Poe painfully aware of the bruising along his ribs. He couldn’t be too annoyed- it had gotten him in good enough graces to get a spot on a trader ship and get off planet with a working comlink. Broadcasting out on one of the signals the resistance managed was a bit more difficult, considering they changed frequently and Poe may have been flitting in and out of consciousness for a while. He had blamed that on finally running out of adrenaline after his capture and escape, pointedly ignoring the sore spot and dried blood that suggested a more worrying culprit. He had finally gotten onto a line and gotten a call through to one of the pilots on Red Squadron, and by then the ship was close enough to the Ileenium system for a pickup. Poe had been more than relieved that the general had sent Snap out and not Jess. Snap at least managed to keep quiet until after Poe had downed a thing of bactade. 

“You know, I’m not sure if we can keep calling you the best pilot in the galaxy is you can’t even land a TIE. Seems like those First Order assholes might have you beat.” Snap teased, smile dripping through his voice. “Then again, I guess they don’t ever have to worry about landings, we take ‘em down so easy. So maybe I can cut you some slack on this one.”

Poe felt himself drifting off. “Just convince Pava of that and I’ll forgive you for questioning my piloting ability.” He murmured. He would be back at base soon enough, and he needed the rest if he was going to go get BB-8 and find his stormtrooper.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

It was good to be back in his X-wing. Black One handled better than any other ship he’d ever gotten his hands on, and even without BB-8 making their own little tweaks to ease the turns, Poe was feeling better than he had in days. Medical hadn’t wanted him back out so soon, but the general had sent him anyway. Apparently BB-8 had been doing much better on their own than Poe had given them credit for; not only had the little droid gotten off Jakku, but they’d managed to hitch a ride on the Millennium Falcon. Poe didn’t know who had helped BB-8 get off planet, but knew he needed to thank them. The Falcon was a legend, and it wasn’t a surprise when C-3PO had mentioned Han Solo was with the droid as well- the man had been looking for the ship for ages.  
General Organa had dispatched his squadrons as soon as she heard the news. 

“If they’ve taken the Falcon, the Order won’t be far behind them. We’ll need to be on Takodana before they catch up. Dameron, you’ll need to be on top of this. I doubt we’ll be arriving on a happy scene.” 

Now, he was wishing the general was right a little less often. He and the other pilots had had to drop out of hyperspace when Starkiller fired, and the comms had all gone silent. Poe could practically feel everyone’s anguish. They all had friends or family in the Hosnian system. He winced in sympathy for Leia- of all of them, she was the last person who should have to see another Death Star. Dropping onto Takodana to see the First Order had beaten them there was like an extra kick in the stomach. Poe knew he was flying a little more wildly than even he was used to, and had seen a few others in blue squadron dropping TIE fighters a little more aggressively than they normally would. He allowed the concern for the others blow past him. They, at least, hadn’t just got back from a blown covert operation, torture, and a nasty crash. Despite it all, Poe cracked a smile as he landed another shot. _This is what I was born for._

The whole battle was over fairly quickly. Most of the soldiers had been on the ground, and TIEs were easy enough to pick off before they really got moving. The order had cut their losses and moved out, and General Organa told them over the comms that she would be landing, and that the X-wings should head back to base and prep for debriefing. There wasn’t the time or space to land the squadrons on Takodana. Poe sat back and reveled in the laughter on the open comms. It wasn’t really a win, considering the state of Maz’s castle, but there hadn’t been significant losses among the pilots, and that was enough of a victory for now. It was unusual that the order had turned and ran, but Poe tried not to be overly concerned. Once he was back on D’Qar, he was sure the general would want him to report with BB-8 on the map to her brother.

Poe was one of the last to set down in the hangar, and without BB-8 running their usual programs, it took him a while longer to run through the checks. He hopped down out of his fighter, taking off his helmet and was telling one of the mechanics he would work on upgrades himself that night when he heard a very familiar stream of binary. 

[Friend Poe is safe! Friend Poe made it back from Jakku too!] BB-8 shouted as they sped towards him. Poe ran over and knelt next to the droid. 

“BB-8! It’s so good to see you! How did you-”

[I have made allies! Friend Rey and Friend Finn saved me!]

“Finn- BB where is he?” BB-8 looked back across the airfield, and Poe followed their gaze.

He zeroed in on Finn as the man called his name and felt his heart leap into his throat. Finn was fine. Finn had made it here. He had gotten out. He was ok. Poe had gotten up and was running to meet him before he had fully processed the thought. They crashed together, and Poe barely heard himself stammer through his own escape. 

“BB-8 says you saved them, Finn, you completed my mission, you-” Poe drew back, his mind finally catching up to what he was seeing. Finn wasn’t in the armor- _of course he wasn’t still in stormtrooper armor_ \- and instead he was wearing- “That’s my jacket.” 

Finn started to take it off, apologizing but Poe stopped him, settling the worn leather back over his shoulders. “No, keep it. It suits you.” Poe clapped Finn on the shoulder, biting his lip. “You’re a good man, Finn.” 

Poe didn’t generally put too much faith in the will of the force, but Finn seemed like his own personal lucky charm. Between their frankly unbelievably lucky escape from the Finalizer and Finn appearing back on D’Qar, unharmed, wearing Poe’s jacket, and with BB-8 and map in tow, it was hard not to believe in something. The man was too full of miracles. Poe smiled when Finn explained his plan for Starkiller. _Obviously there’s a plan._ He dragged Finn off to where he knew the General would be waiting, BB-8 rolling behind them. There was work to be done.


End file.
